Blanquette de veau
A French classic built on the opposite principle to every other stew: nothing here is browned. The meat is blanched, the vegetables cooked under paper, and the flour in the roux must not take on colour. There is one aim — the dish must stay white; the name itself comes from the French blanc, “white”. The flavour comes from the broth, an egg yolk liaison and lemon at the end.
Your own work in that: 0 min.
- Blanching 15 min
- Simmering 90 min
- Vegetables 20 min
- Sauce 25 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneBlanch the meat and discard the water
Cover the veal with cold water, bring to a boil (about 10 minutes) and cook 5 minutes, then drain and rinse the meat under cold water. That first water carries off the grey scum and traces of blood — without it the broth will never be clear and white.
Ingredients: 1200 g veal · 1500 ml water · 2 pcs carrots · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 3 pcs cloves · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 2 tsp salt
The first water goes out with all the scum.Simmer an hour and a half
Cover the rinsed meat with fresh water, add the vegetables, clove-studded onion, bay, thyme and salt and cook 90 minutes with the surface barely trembling. The veal should be tender but hold its shape — overcooked it shreds into the sauce.
Ingredients: 1200 g veal · 1500 ml water · 2 pcs carrots · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 3 pcs cloves · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 2 tsp salt
Cook the onions and mushrooms white
While the meat simmers, cook the peeled pearl onions and mushrooms in a pan with butter, a little water and lemon juice, under a paper lid, for 20 minutes, until the onions are tender. Paper rather than a lid keeps the moisture in but lets no browning happen — they must stay white.
Ingredients: 250 g pearl onions · 300 g button mushrooms · 30 g butter · ½ pcs lemon
Under paper, no colour — the vegetables stay white.Strain and reduce the broth
Lift out the meat, strain the broth, discard the vegetables it cooked with and reduce the liquid to about 800 ml. Those vegetables have given everything they had — in the finished dish they would be grey and collapsed.
Ingredients: 1200 g veal · 1500 ml water · 2 pcs carrots · 1 pcs leek · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 3 pcs cloves · 2 pcs bay leaves · 3 pcs thyme · 2 tsp salt
Make a pale roux with no colour
Melt the butter, stir in the flour and cook 2 minutes without letting it colour. This is a roux blanc: it should lose the raw taste of flour but stay pale. Add the hot broth a ladle at a time, whisking smooth between each (about 3 minutes more).
Ingredients: 60 g butter · 60 g plain flour · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 pcs egg yolks · ½ pcs lemon · 1 pinch nutmeg
Simmer the sauce and return the meat
Cook the sauce over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring, until it thickens and coats a spoon. Add the meat, onions and mushrooms and warm through. The sauce should be as thick as cream — too thin and it slides off the meat on the plate.
Ingredients: 250 g pearl onions · 300 g button mushrooms · 30 g butter · ½ pcs lemon
Finish with a yolk liaison off the heat
Whisk the yolks with the cream, temper with a ladle of hot sauce and stir into the pan off the heat. Boiling after this point sets the yolks into grains and the sauce cannot be saved.
Ingredients: 60 g butter · 60 g plain flour · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 pcs egg yolks · ½ pcs lemon · 1 pinch nutmeg
Off the heat, tempered — the sauce coats the spoon.Season with lemon and nutmeg
Add the lemon juice, nutmeg and salt to taste. Acid is not optional here: a sauce of butter, cream and yolks without lemon tastes flat and heavy within three mouthfuls. Serve with rice or noodles.
Ingredients: 60 g butter · 60 g plain flour · 200 ml whipping cream (30%) · 2 pcs egg yolks · ½ pcs lemon · 1 pinch nutmeg
Before you start
Why veal specifically
Veal shoulder is high in collagen and pale — after ninety minutes it turns tender and the broth gains a gelatinous body while staying pale, which darker beef cannot give. Chicken works too, but cook it for only 40 minutes.
Better the next day
Blanquette can be made a day ahead up to the sauce stage, adding the yolk liaison only on reheating. Warm it very slowly, never boiling, or the sauce splits.
It is good without the liaison too
Roux and cream alone give a more stable sauce that copes better with reheating and freezing. The yolk liaison adds velvet and shine but costs the dish its robustness — a choice between finesse and convenience.
